When I became a mother I had these dreams of children who kept their spaces clean and listened to my every word. I would not be the mom who was a hot mess, dragging runny nosed children through the store, with evidence of a mysterious white powder still on their clothing because the toddler had dumped the ENTIRE formula container out and was playing in it like a sand box and the baby was hungry.
Yet, here I am with all boys. A 3 year old, 2 year old, and 1 month old. You know the feeling, you’re in the other room doing SOMETHING and you hear it. Sometimes it’s silence, sometimes it’s the rustling of a plastic bag, or sometimes it’s a toddler saying “uh oh”. Your heart jumps into your throat as you turn the corner to discover it. Yesterday it was the formula, today it was an entire family sized box of cheerios. What do you do?
WHAT DO YOU DO?
Take a step back. Take a BIG DEEP BREATH. Think from your kids perspective, they aren’t doing this to get at you, really they aren’t. They are exploring their environment, testing out what is acceptable. Even when they’ve tested it once already, they need to do a few quality control attempts just to make CERTAIN mom really doesn’t WANT breakfast mixed with the carpet. TAKE PICTURES, or video, because one day your toddler will be a grown person and you need evidence of the ridiculous stuff they did. React, but react CALMLY. The one bonus of toddlers making messes is, they USUALLY like to help clean them up too. What a great bonding time you can have showing them how to vacuum up cheerios or wipe up the powder all over the kitchen. You WILL survive this moment and so will your home. It may FEEL like the end of the world but it’s not. Really, it’s alright to not clean it up ASAP and let the kids live a little. The clock will still tick, your heart will still beat, and your children will be a little more carefree for a little bit longer. Embrace the messes for your own sanity!
Also, when you try and sneak off to the bathroom alone be CERTAIN nothing of great mess making capacity is in even remote reach of the toddlers. They WILL find it instead of finding you!
AGREED. I have a tween now and looking back at those silly moments is very bittersweet. When it comes to her mess now – I tend to like it confined to her room. And I am flexible in how she keeps her room (knowing mine isn’t perfect either) but I do try to instill some organization and offer tips when she’s trying to clean up. That tween transition is clutch.
Comments are closed.